Young girl’s incredible survival after losing hand in boating horror
A FUN day on the water turned to absolute horror for young Harriet Davis. But just a month after she lost her left hand in a boating accident, the 12-year-old is back doing the things she loves. Today, she shares her tale of incredible survival.
NSW
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FOR Harriet Davis and her family, it was a fun day tubing on one of Sydney’s most picturesque waterways.
Before day’s end, Harriet’s life would change forever. But it would also be the day that showed she has a mettle well beyond her 12 years.
On Saturday September 15, Harriet was enjoying the day on-board the boat her policeman father Stuart had just bought. With them was her father’s partner Mel Brown, her teenage son, and Harriet’s twin sister Audrey.
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Mr Davis wanted to head back to shore, lifting the tube out of the water and placing it near the boat’s motor. But the children insisted they wanted to stay on the water a bit longer.
The boat was travelling at barely eight knots when the tube was dislodged.
Harriet held the slack of the rope, connected to the tube, in her left hand and wrapped around her wrist.
In a split second, a gust of wind flipped the tube in the water.
It acted like an anchor and pulled Harriet off the boat and into the river.
It also amputated her left hand at the wrist.
“It started pulling me under but I grabbed my fingernails and pulled it off, because I would’ve drowned if I didn’t do that,” Harriet told The Sunday Telegraph.
The imagery of Harriet’s horrific injury haunts Mr Davis, a chief inspector stationed in the Blue Mountains, and he appeared visibly distressed when he described what happened next.
“We turned the boat around and gone back to her, by the time I reacted it was 30 metres or so back. We got to her very quickly,” he said.
“This is where it is traumatising but we have pulled her out of the water by her right hand and then we have noticed her left hand wasn’t there.”
“Harriet said the words, ‘Daddy am I going to die?’ and I said ‘no darling you are not going to die but your life is going to change forever’.”
Mr Davis frantically tried to call triple 0 but they were several kilometres away from the boat ramp and it was five minutes before he got through to an operator.
To make matters worse, his boat wouldn’t start and he had to wave down passing jet ski rider, Chris Harvey.
“I headed towards them and I could see the panic on their faces,” Mr Harvey, a former Australian Defence Force member who served in Afghanistan and East Timor, said.
“I said ‘what’s wrong’ and the lady said to me ‘we’ve had an amputation’.
“I said ‘are you friggin’ kidding me?”
Mr Harvey said a T-shirt was used as a tourniquet around Harriet’s upper arm before he rushed Harriet and Ms Brown, huddled on the back of the jet ski, to the boat ramp 15 minutes away.
“I wanted to make sure we got her back as quickly as we could,” he said.
“I was in awe of the young girl, she wasn’t crying and was very brave.”
Waiting for them onshore were two ambulances and five police cars, including her father’s friend Senior Constable Doug Roden.
“His legs were all wet and he carried me to the ambulance,” Harriet said.
Under police escort, the ambulance sped towards Westmead Hospital while police divers stayed in the river until late Saturday night looking for Harriet’s hand.
They never found it.
Doctors estimated Harriet would spend two weeks in hospital but by day five she was doing one-handed cartwheels and by day 11 she was home.
This week, the incredible Year Six student was back on the netball courts, having learned how to play her favourite sport with one hand.
“The past is done, you just have to look to the future,” Harriet said in between passing a netball with her sisters.
Harriet’s mother Belinda Dobrzynski added: “She was our most stubborn child so her stubbornness has now turned into determination.”
The family have been overwhelmed with support, from Swifts Netball player Sophie Garbin who visited Harriet in hospital to the surgeons, psychologists and occupational therapists at Westmead Hospital. .
NSW Police Legacy has established a fundraiser for Harriet with money raised going towards ongoing medical costs and the young girl’s prosthesis.